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Mounds View mermaid moves on

The mermaid statue that once stood on top of The Mermaid in Mounds View, in an undated photo. The statue was removed Feb. 6 due to structural issues. The mermaid statue once stood to the left of The Mermaid’s entrance. Solomon Gustavo

The mermaid statue that once stood on top of The Mermaid in Mounds View was removed Feb. 6.

The removal was due to it “being structurally unsafe” according to a Facebook post on The Mermaid’s Facebook page. The Mermaid’s owners or management could not be reached for comment.

The post said the statue was 54 years old, a timespan that included the mermaid watching over the construction of the bowling lanes at The Mermaid in the 1970s. In 1975, the post said, the statue was nearly blown over by 100-mile-per-hour winds.

The post also said the statue is “safe” in storage, that a plan for what happens next to it is still being considered, and that The Mermaid will keep its patrons updated.

However, according to a Mermaid staff member who asked to not be named, restoration quotes for the statue exceeded $20,000 and it was seriously damaged, putting into question if it could be put back in place.

A group of patrons and other people have created a petition on Change.org with the hopes of showing “the current owners that removing and discarding a historical piece of Mounds View ... is not okay.”

As of the morning of Feb. 9, the petition had more than 1,500 signatures.